


Recovery.

by Preath_Sohara_Kellex_OhMy



Category: Women’s Soccer RPF
Genre: ACL injury, Chicago Red Stars, F/F, FCKC, NWSL, Rehabilitation, USWNT
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-08-08 18:32:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16434620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Preath_Sohara_Kellex_OhMy/pseuds/Preath_Sohara_Kellex_OhMy
Summary: Christen Press tears her ACL the first game of the season.-/-Posted originally before a long, long hiatus. Bringing it back. And will update it so she is on Utah Royal FC once it fits into the storyline. (More tags and such to come as the work continues to grow.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is mostly a quick teaser to set up to the storyline. See if people are interested and all that before I spent time writing. :)

Christen tears her ACL the first game of the season. They’re playing Kansas City on a picture perfect midwestern evening as the sun is beginning it’s descent. Swope Soccer Village is filled with people cheering on the blues and the first 28 minutes go smoothly. The game’s competitive and there are clear chances on both sides of the field.   
  
The injury starts (Christen assumes) when she jumps to make a header that directs the ball further up the field. She feels a slight twinge in her left knee when she lands but doesn’t think much of it because she does land a bit awkwardly onto the field. DiBernardo gives her an almost perfect ball slotted through Kansas City’s center back and right back, and it’s when Christen makes a looping run behind FCKC’s defense to get on the end of the ball that she feels a slight ache in her knee. She sprints ahead of Desiree Scott and looks across the box quickly to see her options. She just releases the ball of of her foot when the defender slams into her planted leg. She feels a sharp twist right where her knee already aches and she starts to cave in. She watches as the ball skips towards the top of the box – and then she collapses.   
  
It's like one moment she's standing, and the next her knee is buckling and twisting as she falls to the ground. She doesn’t register release of a held in breath from the crowd as Steph’s shot narrowly misses the frame of the goal. She doesn’t register the small beads of blood that begin to form on the trail that Scott’s cleats made on her upper calf. She doesn’t register the whistle being blown or the fact that people have started to realize that she’s on the ground. She vaguely registers a popping sound and wonders if she had just imagined it before she’s quickly overwhelmed by the intense pain spreading up her leg.   
  
She curls into the field muffling her screams as the pain becomes too much. She pounds her fist into the turf as pain shoots up her leg into the junction of her knee. She feels like all the blood in her body is rushing to her head and she can feel herself start to black out.   
  
_ Breathe. _ __  
  
The shaky breath that she takes makes her head spin and she tries her best to establish a good breathing pattern to calm herself down – In through her nose, out through her mouth. And she can't help but feel frustrated because she does this exercise for 20 minutes every morning of her life and the moment she needs a calm peace she can't find it.   
  
“Are you okay?” She feels a hand on her back as Becky realizes the state that she's in. That’s when the tears start. Christen starts to shake as Becky starts to frantically wave the trainers over. “Hey, it's going to be fine. You're going to be fine.” Christen nods as she tries to calm herself down once again.   
  
The athletic trainer is kneeling by her side in an instant. Kelsey rolls her onto her back gently. “Can you locate me to where the pain is?”   
  
“Left knee.”   
  
Kelsey gingerly stretches out her knee and asking if it hurts, which – obviously it hurts, and she feels like she's going to throw up or pass out or both.   
  
“There’s quite a bit of swelling. What is the pain like? Is it a dull pain? A sharp pain?”   
  
“Sharp.” Christen winces as Kelsey moves her knee once again. “Definitely sharp but slightly achey. It feels like I just took a sledgehammer to my knee.”   
  
“Did you hear anything before or when you went down?” Kelsey is now softly prodding just below her kneecap trying to palpate for possible indications of what the injury might be.   
  
Christen tries to think back. “I don't know. It all happened so fast… I think I might've but I'm not a hundred percent sure.”   
  
Kelsey nods. “I'm going to do an anterior drawer test. But I need you to relax your leg and your knee as much as possible okay?”   
  
Christen nodded trying to get the tension to leave her body.   
  
“C’mon. C’mon” Kelsey loosely and gently shook Christens leg trying to get it so all of the weight was with her. “Relax. You're going to be okay… Breathe. Relax. C’mon. That's it. Good.” She felt more weight in her hands as Christen relaxed her leg. She put Christen’s foot on the ground before a quick, soft pull on her leg. Kelsey frowned slightly “That's not good.” She muttered quietly to herself.   
  
“What?”   
  
She looked at Christen grimley, “I couldn't get the best read on your knee because of all the swelling.” She signaled to the sideline. Someone rolls over a stretcher, and 4 people try to lift her onto it before Kelsey waves them off. “She's got it.”   
  
“Coming out of the match for the Chicago Red Stars is #23, Christen Press. Entering the match for the Chicago Red Stars in the 32nd minute is #27 Michele Vasconcelos.” Christen glanced to the sideline where she saw the rookie suited up and ready to go.   
  
“I need you to let me take your left leg okay. I'll steady it so when you move it'll be out of harm's way and possible contact okay?”   
  
Christen nods. She lets out a gasp in pain as she shifts her butt onto the stretcher. Kelsey moves her leg as Christen does. Shit. Shit. Shit. This hurts. She shuts her eyes in an attempt to block out the pain.   
  
“Okay we're gonna strap this leg down okay?” Kelsey slowly begins to strap the leg in place. They raise the stretcher and set up the guard rails before they roll her off the pitch.   
  
“We need to take her to the hospital,” Kelsey didn’t look up at the paramedic who was wheeling Christen away. “ I need to grab a few things and then we can be on our way. I’ll be quick.”   
  
Christen’s eyes snap open in panic.  _ Hospital? Oh my god. Hospital means it’s bad. Which means that I’ll have surgery. Which means I’ll be out for months. Which means that– _ __  
  
She looks around at the crowd where almost all of them have started to focus back on the game that has resumed. She catches a few people stare at her remorsefully before they look away and focus towards the game behind her. She turns her head as much as she can to catch a glimpse of the field to watch her team continue to play.   
  
“Hey.”   
  
Christen snaps her head back around. “Oh hey Rory.”   
  
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. We’re gonna get you back out here as soon as possible okay?”   
  
Christen smiles and nods.   
  
Some calls Rory’s name back near the bench and he’s gone as suddenly as he appears and the smile that Christen had plastered on her face for all of 2 seconds vanishes as well. She watches as Kelsey is runs around Chicago’s sideline grabbing things and talking animatedly to Chicago’s assistant athletic trainer and FCKC’s athletic trainer   
  
She’s being lifted into the back of the ambulance and Kelsey joins her and the paramedics in the back.   
“Do you have a preferred hospital m’am?”   
  
“St. Luke’s Hospital please.”   
  
“The one on the Plaza? Or do you want St. Luke’s North or South instead.”   
  
“I don’t know. Whatever hospital you would take FCKC too.”   
  
“Plaza.”   
  
“Sounds good.”   
  
The paramedics closed the door. Two of them stayed in the back of the ambulance while two of them went to the front of the vehicle and the ambulance pulled out of it’s designated spot near the field, through the parking lot, and out onto the main road.   
  
“Christen, we need to get the swelling down as much as possible okay? I’m going to put these ice packs on you. One underneath the knee and one on top and bandage it so it wraps around your knee okay?” She maneuvered the ice packs around her knee putting a thin towel in between the packs and her skin. “It protects the skin cells. Contact with Ice Packs are okay skin to skin if it’s only for a 2-3 minutes but since we’re icing the entire way to the Hospital which should only take about 15 minutes then we need to put a barrier.” She explained to Christen as she watched Kelsey start to ACE bandage wrap the ice around the injury. Kelsey watched Christen shivered as the ice packs began to make themselves known.   
  
“I hate the cold.”   
  
Kelsey just laughed. “I know, you tell me every time I force you to take an ice bath. It’s a good thing we only have only a few people from warmer climates on our team because it’s so so so fun trying to get you, and Julie, and Sam, and Taylor to get into the ice baths.” She winked at Christen.   
  
Christen gave a small smile back before turning to one of the paramedics, “Why aren’t the lights and sirens on?”   
  
“Ummmm. It’s not really an emergency m’am. This is probably a class 5 emergency and we usually don’t bust out the lights and sirens unless it’s a serious trauma.”   
  
“Oh I get it.”  _ Maybe it’s not actually that bad. Maybe this is just precautionary or something. I don’t know. What happens when other people go down and have to get stretched off? _ __  
  
The ambulance went over a small pothole in the road. The small disruption shifted Christen’s body a little bit causing her to grimace, “Ow!”   
  
“Hey guys, I may need you to slow down a bit… Her knee is really sensitive and just that little pothole was hard for her. So as smooth as possible please. If that means going a little bit slower it's fine.”   
  
The rest of the ride is almost painless for Christen.   
  
They eventually arrive to the hospital where Christen is rolled out of the ambulance and into the entryway of the ER.   
  
Kelsey unwraps the ice packs off of Christen. “It's better. But there's still a lot of swelling.” She frowns slightly at her knee. Then glances up at the forward, “At least it's down a little so the doctors can get a better read. I was hoping it'd be a little bit better but it’ll work.” Christen watches Kelsey thank the paramedics and then go talk to ER main desk and when she returns there's 2 new people with her.   
  
“Hi! I'm Gina. You must be the Chicago Red Stars that called earlier? We’re going to send you up to Radiology. Have them scan and we have an OR set up just in case. This is Jacki. She's going to help get you guys around St. Luke's today. Okay? Does that sounds good?”   
  
“That sounds great. Lead the way.”   
  
Jacki lead them to the elevator. Waiting for Christen to be rolled in and pushed the elevator button up to the 4th floor.   
  
-/-   
  
Radiology wasn't awful like Christen expected. She just laid on the bed as the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Machine swirled around her.   
  
After she was done she just laid reclined in her stretcher as she watched the doctor talk to Jacki and Kelsey for a few minutes behind the glass before they all came out.   
  
“Alright Press, we’re going to OR.” Kelsey started to roll Press back out into the hallway.   
  
_ OR? As in Operating Room? _ __  
  
“Wait hold up.” Press held up her hand making Kelsey slowly stopped the stretcher as Jacki continued forward towards the elevator.” O.R. like as in Operating Room?”   
  
Kelsey just nodded.   
  
_ Oh my god. Oh my god. No. This can't be real. No.  _ “You’re kidding right?”   
  
“Unfortunately no, but we need to go there immediately. They've already have set up a room and you need to be there right now. We can answer your questions after.” Jacki pressed the button for the elevator. “It'll be fine. Don't worry.”   
  
Kelsey rolled Press to the elevator and Jacki directed them to the O.R. The only thing hear the elevator gently move upwards, the entire car had fallen silent.   
  
_ How long is surgery? What surgery are they performing? Is it bad enough that they need to do it immediately. What's going on? _ __  
  
Then everything happened so quickly. It felt as though they were in the O.R. for a fraction of a second before she was asked to change out of her uniform into a hospital gown. Jacki helped her change in the corner behind a curtain as Kelsey answered question after question about Christen’s medical history for the surgeon. When she got changed she was put onto the surgery bed, raised in a sitting position to make it easier for the 4 nurses that swarmed around her. One of them hooked up an EKG while another set up a fluid bag. Christen eyed a third un-packaging surgical equipment and laying them out on the table next to her.   
  
“Her heart rate is going up!” One of the nurses glanced at Christen while pointing to the monitor.   
  
“Are you okay Christen?” Kelsey looked at her worriedly. “You're going to be fine. It's okay this won't take long.” She patted the back of her hand before moving to sign some paperwork.   
  
_ No. Not okay. Those are the tools that they use for surgery. For my surgery. A surgery that I'm not entirely sure what I'm getting it for. _ __  
  
“We need to get these fluids into you okay? It's just some extra blood for your body to use. It makes the post-op healing easier and the operation smoother for you.” Someone stuck a needle into her arm and hooked it up to the fluid bag. “See that wasn't so bad. Okay we're going to do one more okay?”   
  
_ What are you doing? What's going on? _ __  
  
Another nurse tilts her neck slightly to get a better read on the veins and sticks another needle in. She can hear the plunger slowly descend and feels the needle being pulled out from her skin.   
  
She looks around at the stainless steel and tile room surrounding her. The forgotten Red Stars jersey crumpled in the corner. The last thing she remembers is finally getting the courage to ask a question to whoever will listen but the drugs injected into her neck drag her under quickly.   



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this is a slight AU with the way the season goes.... But everything I tried to match as much as possible. Hope you enjoy. :)

Tobin grinned as the final whistle blew and the crowd roared its approval.  
  
_3 points. Not too shabby._   
  
She laughed as Allie ran over to her.   
  
“HARRRRYYYY!” Allie ruffled Tobin’s hair a little bit before continuing, “A game winning goal isn't the worst way to start 2018.”   
  
Tobin just rolled her eyes. “It was the only goal Harry.”   
  
“Still a game winner.”   
  
Mark waved for them to make their way over to the Riveters as he tried to round up everyone else.   
  
They laughed as everyone formed a line rocking their hands back and forth in front of the crowd. Tobin was given a rose to celebrate the goal she scored, she shyly held it in the air as the fans cheered their approval.   
  
The line slowly broke down and one of the media staff quickly found his way to Tobin.   
  
“Great game. Sorry to cut the celebration short but we need you for the press conference. I'm going to go get Nadia but start making your way over there okay? You can stop to sign a few things if you want but we're really trying to get you guys in and out so then the staff can clean up.”   
  
“Sure. No big deal.”   
  
She made her way towards the tunnel grinning slightly as people yelled her name. She stopped for a few fans signing a poster and a few jerseys before catching a glimpse out of the corner of her eye of a young fan. She approached the kid smiling as the little girl beamed back at her. “Hey you want this?” The little girl let out a small gasp in wonder before nodding her head enthusiastically. Tobin smiled while giving away her rose for a young fan whose untamed curly hair crept out in loose, black waves underneath her snapback. “I love your hair, It reminds me of one of my teammates on the national team.” The girl grinned wider. Tobin laughed softly as she finished a quick autograph before heading into the tunnel.   
  
-/-   
  
“Can you explain your reaction during the play and after scoring?”   
  
“Uh. It wasn’t even me really. Nadia over there did all the work. I saw her shoot it and it kinda just fell right in front of me and I just had to make sure that I didn’t mess anything up.” Tobin grinned. “Actually with the spin of the ball it was kinda a difficult one to just pass in but it’s okay. We scored so it all worked out.”   
  
“Just one quick last question. Congrats on being the US Women's National Player of the Year. Does that give you any added pressure to perform this year?”   
  
“I don’t know. Not really. Last year was a really good year for me for both the National team and Thorns and I just want to build on my performances last season.”   
  
Tobin rose out of her chair after thanking the media. She and Nadia made their way out of the room.. Nodding goodbye to the media still in the room as she exited the room and headed to the showers.   
  
“Hey, a few people are coming over to my place to celebrate. Nothing too heavy just a couple drinks. This won’t be a KOH party.” Allie winks at her and Tobin just laughs.   
  
“Okay I’ll be there. Just let me shower real quick.”   
  
-/-   
  
Tobin woke up shooting Christen a text first thing.   
  
Tobin - 9:14 am    
  
[ Good morning! :) ]   
  
Tobin - 9:14 am   
  
[Sorry I didn’t call last night. I was hanging out at Allies with a few girls from the team. But I’ll call you when you want. I’m open all day so just shoot me a text.]   
  
She slowly stretched out her sore muscles before getting up to make herself some coffee.   
  
She flipped on the TV onto SportsCenter before grabbing some eggs and vegetables to start making an omelette. She just removes it from the pan onto her plate and pours herself some coffee when the TV commentary shifts her focus.   
  
“And Brad, how about this from Morgan Andrews in the home opener for Boston versus the Seattle Reign. Receives the ball and just weaves through the Reigns entire defense to pass it into the corner. She made that look easy and that a great start to the season she’ll be hoping to add a few more for her rookie campaign.”   
  
"Absolutely Karissa. That is a fantastic finish for Andrews. She has her head up and just picks a spot right into the corner."   
  
Tobin looked up across the kitchen to the living room at the screen where she watched Morgan dribble through the Reigns defense. Holding off Lauren Barnes to slot it inside the far post. The video follows Morgan as she goes to celebrate her goal by squaring up to the corner flag before punching it down.   
  
"Do you want to take the Kansas City game? It was a good one!"   
  
Brad smiled into the camera. "Why not. Switching to Kansas City, Missouri where things were not so great for the home team, FCKC, as they lost 2-1 to the Chicago Red Stars.”   
  
Tobin made her way across the apartment, grabbing the remote and turning up the volume.   
  
“Standard play until around the 30th minute, Press goes down. Chicago Red Stars have released a statement after the game last night concerning one of their star players saying: “We can confirm that (Christen) Press suffered an ACL tear versus FC Kansas City. She will be flying home with us tomorrow and remain a valuable part to this team and organization. We will be starting treatment as soon as possible once the surgery is performed in Chicago.” And this is a huge blow for the Red Stars, Christen Press finished last season as 3rd in the golden boot race for the NWSL and in the past two seasons has tallied 15 goals.”   
  
Tobin watched the screen as the defender slammed into Christen. The cameraman followed the ball as Steph received it and took the shot making Tobin squint to the upper right hand corner of the screen. The video cut to another image of Christen pounding the grass as she howled in pain.   
  
_Holy shit._   
  
She stepped closer to the screen reaching up to trace the outline of Christen's face with a slightly trembling finger on the monitor. "Oh my god... Babe." She swallowed thickly.   
  
"Now the Red Stars did win 2-1 versus Kansas City last night so is it possible that they will be okay without Christen Press? Is she replaceable on the team?"   
  
"I think she is. When the US Women's National team went to Brazil in 2016 for the Olympics, Chicago were missing Press and were still able to score. They were still able to create dangerous opportunities."   
  
"But Karissa, you can't discredit the experience that Press brings to this team... Sure the younger players who stepped in did good but you can't simply replace Christen Press."   
  
"Christen is experienced and brings a lot to the Red Stars but they can survive without her and not only survive but still be able to get results. They're already replacing her for when L.A.–"   
  
Tobin reaches for her phone quickly calling Christen and groaning as it hit voicemail, "Hey it's Christen! Sorry I couldn't get to the phone right now but leave me a message and I'll get back to you!" Tobin trembled, She could feel her smile through the phone.   
  
“Hey. It’s me. I just found out what happened. Are you okay? I just want to check in on you. Call me back. Please. I love you.”   
  
Tobin - 9:37 am   
  
[I just heard the news. Call me as soon as you can please. I love you.]   
  
Still no answer. Tobin put down the phone before going back to the kitchen and staring at the omelette she made as she picked at it as her appetite vanished. 

_I wonder how she is... What she's doing...._

**Author's Note:**

> comments? questions? concerns? let me know your thoughts. :) 
> 
> follow me on tumblr: @oh-look-it’s-preath


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